Australia’s foremost music festival, The Big Day Out, debuted on the 1992 Australia Day public holiday in Sydney and expanded to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by the following year. The Gold Coast and Auckland were added to the schedule in 1994. As of 2003, it has featured seven or eight stages (depending on the venue) accommodating popular contemporary rock music, electronic music, mainstream international acts and local acts.

JPJ Audio (previously trading as Jands Production Services and Johnston Audio) has provided the sound systems for every Big Day Out show since 1992 and 2014 was no exception. The festival usually takes place in late January and this year was held in four Australian cities: Gold Coast (Jan 19), Melbourne (Jan 24), Sydney (Jan 26), Adelaide (Jan 31) and Perth (Feb 2).

Gallery – All photos ©Daniel Boud

It was a busy summer for JPJ Audio, the merged operation of Jands Production Services and Johnston Audio. JPJ Audio provided audio and production services for theatre shows, television spectaculars, corporate events and numerous concerts. Here’s some of the shows we worked on:

Festivals	Theatre / Television	House Systems
Big Day Out	Hairspray the Musical	Luna Park Big Top
Good Vibrations Festival	The Boy From Oz	State Theatre Sydney
Laneway Festival	Music of Andrew Lloyd  Webber	Hordern Pavilion
Sound Wave Festival	Dr Zhivargo
Future Music Festival	Australia’s Got Talent
Sound Relief 2	River Dance

Concerts and Tours	Concerts and Tours	Corporate Events

It’s been a busy summer and start to autumn for Jands Production Services. In addition to the massive V and Big Day Out festivals, JPS provided audio and production services for theatre shows, television spectaculars, corporate events and numerous concerts. Here’s some of the shows we’ve been working on:

Festivals	Theatre / Television	House Systems
Virgin V Festival	MTV Music Awards	Luna Park Big Top
Big Day Out Main Stages	Breast Wishes	Sydney Entertainment Centre
East Coast Blues Festival	Sydney Dance Company	Sydney State Theatre
Good Vibrations	– We Unfold
Tropfest 2009	Winds of Shaolin

Concerts and Tours	Corporate Events

JAS audio supplied the audio for Melbourne’s Future Music Festival and the move from the Myer Music Bowl over to the Flemington race track increased the audience to around 35,000.

For the main stages in Melbourne and Sydney a Nexo Geo T system was used while L-Acoustics VDosc was used for the main stages in Brisbane and Adelaide.

Dates

February 28
March 1, 7-9

Melbourne Future Festival

Main stage

32 x Nexo Geo T
16 x Nexo C-D 18 subs
32 x Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers

FOH

1 x Midas XL4
1 x Digidesign profile console

Monitors

1 x Midas H3000
1 x Digidesign profile console
16 x Wayloud Wedges
2 x Nexo Alpha E side-fill systems

God’s kitchen stage

16 x L-Acoustics VDosc
12 x Wayloud 218 subs

Consoles

2 x Yamaha PM5D

Monitors

16 x PS15 wedges

Yellow stage

16 x Nexo Alpha
8 x Nexo Alpha S2

Sydney Future Festival

Main stage

32 x Nexo Geo T
16 x Nexo C-D 18 subs
32 x Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers

FOH

1 x Midas XL4
1 x Digidesign Profile console

Monitors

1 x Midas H3000
1 x Digidesgin Profile console
16 x Wayloud Wedges
2 x Nexo Alpha E side-fill systems

Godskitchen stage

16 x L-Acoustics VDosc
12 x Wayloud 218 subs

Consoles

2 x Yamaha PM5D

Monitors

16 x PS15 wedges

Brisbane Future Festival

Main Stage

16 x L-Acoustics VDosc
16 x Wayloud 218 subs
6 x L-Acoustics ARCs

FOH

1 x Midas XL4
1 x Digidesign Profile console

Monitors

1 x Midas H3000
1 x Digidesign Profile console
16 x Wayloud Wedges
2 x Nexo Alpha E side-fill systems

Adelaide Future Festival

Main Stage

16 x L-Acoustics VDosc
16 x Wayloud 218 subs
6 x L-Acoustics ARCs

FOH

1 x Midas XL4
1 x Digidesign Profile console

Monitors

1 x Midas H3000
1 x Digidesign Profile console
16 x Wayloud Wedges
2 x Nexo Alpha E side-fill systems

NERD Touring package

2 x Digidesgin Profile console
4 x Sennheiser G2 in-ears systems
4 x Shure U4D Radio mic systems

The Rock Isle Mulwala Festival was held over the Easter weekend (31 March – 2 April 1972) and featured local bands including: Russell Morris, Lobby Loyde, Leo De Castro and Friends, Country Radio, Chain, Carson, Taman Shud and The Aztecs. The festival also featured, Canned Heat and Steven Stills band Manassas, with Chris Hilman.

Sound System (each side)

2 x Jands Hurler c/w 4 x JBL 2225
1 x JBL 4550 c/w 2 x JBL K130
2 x Jands 4580 c/w 2 x JBL K120
2 x JBL 2350 90 Horn with 2480 Driver
2 x JBL 2355 60 Horn with 2440 Driver
1 x JBL 2360 Long Throw Horn with 2480 Driver
2 x HF enclosures each with 2 x JBL 2402
2 x HF enclosures each with 2 x JBL 2405
24 x Jands 150w Power Amplifiers

Jands Crew

Howard Page, Phillip Storey, David Mulholland, Eric Robinson, Paul Mulholland, Edward Robinson, Andrew Batchelor.

Images – click to enlarge

YouTube
GTK: Stephen Stills & Manassas Live at Mulwala 1972

The Sunbury Rock Festival was first held in 1972 on a 620 acre farm between Sunbury and Diggers Rest, Victoria. It attracted around 35,000 people and was promoted by Odessa Promotions, which was formed by a group of television professionals, including John Fowler and Jim McKay, from GTV 9 Melbourne.

The festival ran from 29 to 31 January and the ticket price was $6.00 for all 3 days, $5.00 for 2 days and $1.00 for a single day.

Sound System

2 x RCA W Bin with 2 x 15″ JBL K140
4 x Jands U Bin with 2 x 15″ JBL K130
2 x JBL 2350 90° horns with 2480 2″ drivers
2 x JBL 2356 long-throw horns with 2480 2″ drivers
8 x JBL 2405 high frequency drivers
10 x Jands 150w Power Amplifiers
1 x 20 Channel Jands Mixing Console

Jands Crew

David Mulholland
Howard Page
Eric Robinson
Philip Story

Click images to enlarge

Acts

Blackfeather
The Bushwhackers & Bullockies Bush Band
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band
Glenn Cardier
Carson
Chain
Company Caine
Greg Quill & Country Radio
Friends
Healing Force
Highway
Gerry Humphrys (MC)
Indelible Murtceps
The La De Das
MacKenzie Theory
Madder Lake
Phil Manning
Max Merritt & the Meteors
Mulga Bill’s Bicycle Band
Barrie McAskill & Levi Smith’s Clefs
Pilgrimage
Pirana
Wendy Saddington
SCRA
Spectrum
Tamam Shud
Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
Total Fire Band
Wild Cherries

Photo courtesy of ©1971 Greg Dickins

In January 1971 Jands provided stage and effects lighting for the first Fairlight Festival. The equipment consisted of Strand Patt 223 & 123 fresnels, Patt 23 & 23N profile spots and Patt 63 multi-cell ground rows. Kodak Carousel projectors loaded with hand painted sides and 3M overhead projectors with non mixing dyes manipulated in clock faces were used to project a ‘liquid lightshow’ onto three parachutes hung at the rear of the stage.

References

In an article on the Milesago website Terry Stacey writes:

The Fairlight Festival was held (in) 1971 and boasted a strong line-up of Sydney-based bands. Although advertised as “The Timeless Trip”, this early Australian rock festival was in fact a bit of a bummer, and like the ill-fated Mulwala Festival the following year, it was marred by those all-too-familiar festival hassles – poor organization, meagre facilities, bad weather and too much alcohol.

Fairlight is about 10 kms south of Mittagong, which itself is about 100 kms South of Sydney. The site was on a property (reputedly once an Aboriginal tribal ground) about 2 kms east of where the present M4 Motorway crosses the Old Hume Highway. Organisers provided the bare minimum of facilities – no showers, primitive toilets and a few drums of drinking water.

Announcer Jeff Canters ambitiously started the festival on time at 10am Saturday – even though the (Betts) amplifiers had not yet arrived! First up was Jeannie Lewis who did an acoustic set (not surprising given the lack of sound gear at that stage). Once the amps arrived The Cleves did a rollicking set, followed by Khavas Jute who maintained the energy, although their set was shortened as they had to go on to another gig.

However their lead guitarist Dennis Wilson impressed the crowd with his wah-wah guitar work. Steve Phillipson, ex-Velvet Underground vocalist), entertained the restless crowd with a solo acoustic set (a la John Sebastian) later in the evening. He was followed by Sydney band Wildwood who presented a set of Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night covers.

Their improvised lead guitar solo went down particularly well. Blackfeather’s set kept a high going. Tamam Shud who went on at midnight bravely, or madly, depending how you look at it, played on through a torrential rainstorm.

Because of the bad weather, Sunday morning’s planned “Dawn Ritual” was abandoned. Instead a bunch of the musos played a ninety-minute improvised set. This was followed by a jam by Nutwood Rug, but by then most of the 4000-strong audience had left.

The police who attended busted some dope-smokers during the festival but the audience was largely comprised of “drunken yobbos”. Like Ourimbah, a lot of rubbish was left behind after it had finished. Typically, the organisers had made no provision for the possibility of rain which, being the Southern Highlands at Easter, it did copiously, leaving the crowd to slosh around in large quantities of mud on the second day. This scenario would be repeated at Mulawa, held almost exactly a year later. To top it all off the organisers had $4000 stolen.

Reviewing the event in Go-Set filmmaker Albie Thoms commented: “If this was a demonstration of the new life-style, then it was right off.”

Artists

Jeannie Lewis, The Cleves, Khavas Jute, Galadriel, Steve Phillipson, Wildwood. Blackfeather. Tamam Shud, Nutwood Rug Band.

Jands Crew

David Mulholland, Paul Mulholland, Eric Robinson.

Links

• Greg Dickins Photo Sydney – 1971 photo archive page.
• Milesago Australasian popular music & social history 1964-1975
• A second Fairlight festival was held in April 1971. Phil Cullen of Electric Sunshine supplied the lighting.